November 29, 2007 Matthew 22:35

11/29/2007

Matthew 22:35 - 40 (HCSB)

³⁵And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him: ³⁶“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

³⁷He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸This is the greatest and most important commandment. ³⁹The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Many of us know the Ten Commandments; we have heard them from our youth and can recite at least a few of them. And indeed, any self-respecting Jew could recite all ten of them. But in the time when this question was posed to Jesus, the church leaders had compounded so many restrictions and regulations on the people that the question of the “greatest commandment” was not as simple as one might think.

For instance, Jesus had been challenged many times because he healed people on the Sabbath. And once he was ridiculed because his disciples picked and ate wheat on the Sabbath. Every Jew knew the commandment “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” And when you consider all the “stuff” that had been added to the law by these so-called experts, it becomes easier to understand why this would have been a challenging question to the normal Jew.

But Jesus’ answer is simple (for he already knew their motives). “Love the Lord your God” is, of course, the first commandment. And then he added “Love your neighbor as yourself,” as a follow up. This second is not found literally in any of the commandments, but Jesus explains “All the Law and Prophets depend on these two.” Another translation reads “All the other commands hinge upon these two,” implying that these two are the foundation upon which the others MUST stand.

Indeed, what God wants from us first is our devotion to Him. Then he wants us to regard others with dignity and respect. What then does this boil down to?

Relationships.

There are two relationships we need to keep in order: first, our relationship with God, then our relationship with others. The Judaic Law had become so fouled up with things that had nothing to do with relationships that the leaders had lost sight of the fact that the commands instruct us in how to manage relationships. They were so busy with doing this or that at an appointed time or saying this or that, or wearing the correct garment.

Jesus’ reaction to the complexity of the Law was so simplistic that it became a refreshing spring to the common people, but an insult to the theologians whose very existence depended on the complexity.

We need to remember that what God desires is simple: when we honor Him as we should, and then treat others as we should, then we are in the place He desires us to be.

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